The Fear
by Venice11
Summary: Arthur, Eames and Cobb find themselves in a tight spot on their next job due to a rare mistake on Arthur's behalf.  Lots of violence and drama ensues. ;   *Chapter 2 Update*
1. Chapter 1

Eames raised an eyebrow in disbelief as he observed Arthur effortlessly shooting several far off projections with perfect aim and frowned as he mentally solved the mystery of what Arthur had been doing late at night in PASIV. Eames needed to step it up if he wanted to keep in the competition.

He smiled to himself at Arthur's weapon; the younger man was certainly a creature of habit. No imagination, he would often say. While Eames liked to dream up all sorts of fantastical weapons, Arthur always had the same non-descript black Glock at his side.

Not that it wasn't working for him, he bitterly thought to himself as he watched another projection slump to the ground much farther off (though he'd never admit it)than he could have successfully shot.

Cobb was working his magic inside the building with their newest mark and had left Arthur and Eames to guard the entrance to allow him to work in peace. As shared dream technology was becoming more well-known, the job difficulty was becoming increasingly difficult as high up businessmen learned of the potential risks and trained their minds against extraction.

They also found themselves competing with other mind thieves in a market they had once solely dominated. There were two or three other teams who were just below them in skill level jockeying for position, waiting for them to mess up just once so they could claim the top spot.

Checking his watch, Arthur swore quietly and pounded his fist loudly three times on the door behind him as they crouched below a strategically parked car trying to get Cobb to hurry. Eames was took this opportunity to fire off a shot, grimacing to himself as he missed.

"Got one." He lied, eyes darting over to Arthur then twinkling when glee when they noticed he had been momentarily distracted and wouldn't know otherwise. His second shot hit the mark and a wide grin broke out across his face, nudging Arthur in the side excitedly. Arthur looked up at him, not terribly impressed.

"What, did you want a gold star?" He asked dryly, scanning around them. The amount of projections had tapered off significantly.

"You could buy me a drink instead, love. I'm afraid another gold star would just swell my head." Eames responded without missing a beat.

"Do you think I should go check on Cobb?" Arthur pointedly ignored Eames joke. "He's taking a long time."

"How long has he been in there, then?" Eames asked

"About thirty-two minutes." Arthur replied, checking his watch again impatiently.

"Give him time to work his magic, darling. Not everything can be planned out to the last minute you know."

"What exactly do you think my job is then?" Arthur frowned, dark serious eyes meeting Eames light blue ones in irritation. Eames was about to respond with any number of smart-aleck comments when a loud commotion could be heard from the building behind them. Taking a moment to give a meaningful 'I told you so' glare to Eames, Arthur turned and raced gun drawn through the main door to check on Cobb.

The hallway was dark and decrepit; the doors lining it were all open but revealed nothing but an impenetrable darkness. At the end of the hall, the only well lit door was ajar allowing a single sliver of light to cast its beam on a rather disgusting dusty wooden floor.

Crouching low, Arthur felt comforted by Eames at his back as they passed the dark rooms. Although they hurriedly strained their eyes looking into each and every one of them they could make out nothing. It was more than just a little creepy, even to two grown men.

"Why would Cobb design such a bizarre building?" Eames whispered, taking in the overpowering stench of mildew from the rotting planks beneath their feet. Another crash nearby accompanied by a shout of alarm and Arthur broke his cautious approach to run full sprint to the door. Eames swore as he tried to grab the back of his jacket but missed, and instead watched the Point man break their element of surprise by flinging the door wide open.

He still had moments where his youth and inexperience got the best of him, though they were few and far between. He had noticed it was mostly when Cobb was in some sort of perceived danger, though he had been proud to admit it had been for him once too.

"Cobb?" Arthur called out into room, gun levelled in front of him ready to shoot at a moment's notice. Silently coming up behind him, Eames peeked over his shoulder quickly glancing at the wooden tables and chairs lay strewn about. There was clear evidence of a struggle but not their leader, who was suspiciously M.I.A.

"What are you two doing?" They heard a voice behind them, and they both whirled with surprise, backing into the safety of the only well-lit room, guns darting from imagined target to imagined target. Cobb emerged from one of the dark doors to their left, smiling apologetically as he ran his hand through his slicked hair. Arthur sighed in relief, placing his gun back in the familiar groove of his back.

"Sorry to worry you." Cobb said dismissively, taking in the destroyed room. "I lost my gun. Eames, can I use yours?" He asked offhandedly and Eames handed him his own. Cobb was always a better shot anyhow, probably more-so that day.

"Where's the mark, Cobb?" Arthur asked, straight to business.

"Well, funny thing about that, Arthur." He replied, coldly. Arthur looked up, warily.

"I trusted you to do one **very **important job on this team. Explain to me why your goddamn research on our mark was off. **Again**. Your **stupid** thoughtless move cost us the mission." Cobb snapped, as he stalked towards the younger man. Arthur visibly recoiled with the sharp words he hadn't been expecting, and Eames looked away, embarrassed.

"You acted completely inappropriately, putting not only yourself, but the entire team at risk!" He continued, jabbing his finger forward as Arthur backed away from the slowly advancing Cobb, stumbling over some debris on the floor and barely catching his fall as he wound up with his back to the wall. His face couldn't be redder from embarrassment and Eames could hardly look at the scene.

"Say you're sorry to Eames!" He demanded, and Arthur glared back defiantly at him from the wall, wondering if he could just shoot himself and wake up.

"I'm sorry." He muttered quietly.

"What?" Cobb yelled back.

"Listen, it's ok, right? No harm done!" Eames protested meekly, wondering how long this side of Cobb had been hidden from him.

"I'm **sorry**." Arthur enounced, his teeth gritting together in anger. Before Eames could even believe what he was seeing, Cobb grabbed Arthur by the collar of his shirt and slammed him forcefully against the wall. A cry of alarm left Arthur's lips as he stared confused into the older man's piercing blue eyes and tried to make sense of his new situation while ripping at Cobb's hands to free himself.

"This doesn't concern you!" Cobb shouted back at the approaching Eames, who had quickly made several strides to close the distance between them. The Brit paused for a moment, wondering if he had the right to involve himself further in the situation. He hadn't been with them long enough; this wasn't their dynamic, was it?

"I hired you for a goddamn simple job, and I got some simpering little kid following me around like a pitiful stray." Cobb's piercing eyes bored into Arthur's as he slammed him again into the wall again to drive his point home.

"Alright, Cobb, that's enough, eh?" Eames interrupted uncomfortably, taking the last few steps and putting his hand on Cobb's shoulder. Arthur's eyes looked downcast, refusing to meet Eames worried stare as he tried to avoid the humiliation he felt.

"You're right." Cobb replied, loosening his hold. Eames breathed a sigh of relief, but Arthur had reverted back to silent mode, his eyes still downcast.

Eames frowned as he looked from one to the other, wondering how a job could have gone so sideways in such an unexpected way. And what in the world could Arthur have screwed up about the mark? Before he could fully process that thought, Cobb whirled around and shot him point blank in the stomach. Gasping in surprise, Eames took two steps backward and stumbled to the ground, confusing across his face.

"Shoot me in the head, Cobb. I don't want to be here all day, mate." Eames attempted a confused grin, breathing shallow and ragged. Cobb just smiled down with a look that could only be described as sinister before he whirled back around and caught Arthur in the side of the face with the butt of his gun. Arthur had been in the process of aiming his own gun at Eames' head but hit the floor hard with the force of the unexpected blow. His own gun skitted away from him on the floor as Eames finally put it together.

"Others have finally gotten good at it, then?" Eames choked out, as he held his stomach, warm blood spilling out. Cobb grinned in an uncharacteristic way before landing a fierce stomp at Arthur's ribs and the younger man cried out, curling into a ball.

"Cobb, stop...! I'm sorry!" The younger man implored.

"It's not Cobb!" Eames shouted back, and 'Cobb' turned to face him.

"Don't!" He hissed mockingly. "It's more fun if he thinks it is!"

"Arthur, the job was a set up! Our mark is a forger!" Eames managed to shout out, a wave of excruciating pain making him hiss and curl up, grasping his stomach.

Arthur attempted to weakly get onto his hands and his knees, but a quickly kick from 'Cobb' to his face left him back on the ground, writhing around, bright red blood staining the wooden floor as his hands tenderly held his broken nose.

"Where's Cobb?" Arthur managed to moan out despite the pain in his face.

"I would imagine your _Cobb _is following two people of mine who bear a striking resemblance to the two of you." He drawled out slowly, enjoying himself. "He's probably wondering why you're leading him on such a wild goose chase, but I'm sure his trust for his team will overpower that suspicion."

"You have two other forgers on your team?" Eames choked out incredulously.

"mmmmm...yes. Yes I do. This line of business is certainly quite lucrative. I looked at what the three of you were doing, and I thought to myself 'how can I improve on that?' And then it hit me!" He absentmindedly interrupted his line of thought to stomp down on Arthur's hand as he reached for the gun. "Why not have the extractor and the **point **(here he ground down even harder on Arthur's hand to emphasize his point) be forgers as well?"

"Then you should have no problem beating us fair and square with jobs, not by tricking us like a coward." Arthur coughed bitingly, holding his hand delicately to his chest not sure which part of his aching body to pay attention to first. The false Cobb stared down at Arthur on the ground disapprovingly before landing a delayed well thought out kick to his stomach.

"You've no doubt died a lot of ways in the dream world, Arthur. But have you ever been beaten to death? I assure you it's not a fun way to go. Takes far too long for most people's tastes. I, however, am a very patient man."

His captive audience was no longer engaging him in conversation, instead resigned to just watching him with their wary eyes.

"I have to say there's one part of this whole experience I will enjoy the most." He mused, looking to the two of them. Eames looked up at him with scorn waiting for his response. "As long as my team is around, you three will never fully trust each other on one of your missions again!" He grinned, looking back and forth to the two of them, drinking in their expressions.

"I'm not worried." Arthur whispered out.

"What?" False Cobb asked, moving closer.

"I'm** not** worried!" Arthur painfully yelled out.

"Why?" He asked bemused, nudging him with his foot.

"So you have three first rate forgers, big deal." He spat out. "We have the best one out there and we still only needed him on the occasional mission. It doesn't compare to a first rate Extractor, Architect or Point." Arthur grinned up at him defiantly with bloodied teeth.

The first look that flashed across false Cobb's face was one of extreme anger, and Arthur winced, guarding himself for the next attack. Instead he was surprised to hear the other man laugh, and he looked up at him with confusion.

"Well Arthur, as supposedly the best Point in the business, you sure missed the most important detail with this job." He mocked.

Arthur knew this situation was entirely his fault. They had done so many low level jobs lately to make some money in the competitive market that he had gotten careless, just taken it at face level. This was just supposed to be a simple extraction; they had done one just like it dozens of times before, but it was no excuse. He had let his team down.

``So I won`t be requiring **your **skills dear Arthur. Though I did hear Cobb dabbles in both extraction **and **architecture! How interesting!" False Cobb turned to grin at Eames. "And I certainly don't want another Forger running about, making me look badly, hmm?" He asked. "Tell you what. I'm going to be going back to the real world. You two can just spend some time here, right? Maybe back there I might find some _leverage_ to convince Cobb to help me on this next big job I've been hired for."

"Cobb would never work with you!" Arthur choked out, panicked. False Cobb gave him one last vicious kick to the ribs before walking purposefully to the corner of the room.

"Technically he will be working for me." He clarified, smiling condescendingly a the two of them before shooting himself in the temple.

**...a... **

Two utterly hopeless sets of eyes stared across the room at each other. Eames knew he should attempt to crawl over to the corner where the guns might still be laying, but didn't think he could even lift a finger at that point. The familiar shiver he felt throughout his body when he was dying from such a gunshot set in and a cold numbness began to weave its way up his extremities.

Arthur's breathing was coming out ragged and torn as he struggled with several broken ribs, his tucked in white collared shirt almost entirely pulled out, his vest stained with the blood that had ran down his face out of his nose. Eames wished he could say something to cheer the younger man up, but trying as hard as he could, cohesive words still refused to come out of his mouth.

"I'm sorry." Arthur's wavering voice called out as Eames tried to fight the darkness creeping in on the side of his vision, his breath coming out in ragged gasps. He didn't want to leave Arthur here alone with his guilt, and he didn't want to face the reality of whatever would be awaiting them when he woke up.

Loud running footsteps could be heard suddenly, and through hazy eyes he watched as Cobb raced into the room. Taking in the sight of his two teammates laid out horribly injured on the floor, he strode over to Arthur and dropped to his knee next to him. Arthur recoiled as best he could, not sure if the imposter Cobb had rejoined them in dream world, but no blow came.

"It's me, Arthur." Cobb whispered reassuringly. "You had a cat named Boots when you were seven." Eames smiled at this through the pain, coughing out blood.

"Hold on, Eames. Stay with us just a little bit longer. We stand a better chance if we all go back together." Cobb called out over his shoulder.

"Cobb, I'm sorry." Arthur choked out, again. "I screwed up really badly this time." His eyes looked up, seeking forgiveness. "They want to use you for some job."

"Hey, it's OK! They're just a desperate bunch of two-bit criminals. I realized the others weren't you two far too quickly to be even remotely worried about their skill as forgers." Cobb reassured, smiling down at him.

Arthur suddenly twisted up in pain, grimacing.

"Ok we have to move, they're doing something to us in the waking world. Remember everything you know about each other, the more obscure the better!" Cobb instructed to the two, straight to business. He levelled the gun at Eames and quickly put him out of his misery, a shot to the head. Standing up, he quickly did the same to Arthur.

Looking about at his two dead teammates, Cobb allowed the concern he had been hiding cross his face. He knew if they were using his team, using Arthur as leverage, he would be unable to refuse their demands. Sighing, he raised the gun to his own temple and with no perceivable hesitation, pulled the trigger.

**...a...**

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed it! I know, it's more of the same, but I just can't help writing this kind of fic! Writing a romance has virtually no interest to me. I'll try my best to update every day, but I literally have no idea where this is going so I warn you, I may get stuck ;) 3


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments! Whenever I get frustrated and just want to give up, I just re-read them and keep writing 3

Part II

Arthur felt the familiar stomach churning lurch as he returned to reality . Without wasting a moment he attempted to quickly stand; legs heavy and still uncoordinated from the dream. Disoriented, his eyes fluttered open as he stumbled forwards in a move that accomplished nothing except a sudden punch to the face that sent him sprawling backwards over his rickety chair onto his back.

"Hmm, that's more fun in real life..." A voice murmured, and a tall thin man came into view rubbing his bruised fist. Arthur scrambled quickly to his feet, eyes burning defiantly.

The man who had impersonated Cobb sported a rather expensive looking dark blue suit with a greasy pile of sandy blonde hair on his head. His icy blue eyes and sharp jagged nose reminded Arthur of a shark.

Cobb and Eames were seated silently, looking slightly concerned as they focussed on the twin guns aimed at them. Eames seemed to be developing a rather nasty black eye, and Cobb was doing what he did best: leaning back and appearing calm, cool and collected. It looked as if he were holding all the cards at an important business meeting, not negotiating for his team's safety.

The two other forgers consisted of two men: The first looked to be Cobb's age and sported a nasty recent knife wound across his face that was in the process of healing. That coupled with his milky blue eyes made him an altogether disturbing sight.

The second man was thinner and scrawnier in stature, bags under unhealthy looking eyes and a jaundiced looking skin tone.

"Have a seat." The leader interrupted Arthur's observations. Never letting him out of his sight, Arthur slowly righted the wooden chair and stiffly sat down on it.

"So I'm sure that Arthur here can let you all know who we are, right?" The tall man looked down at his dark glaring eyes, grinning.

"How should I know who you are?" He muttered back, never breaking eye contact.

The tall man responded with a barking laugh and looked around the room incredulously.

"Well, you certainly don't live up to your reputation, Arthur. Let me enlighten you all; seeing as your little Point here doesn't even have the professional know-how to keep track of your competitors." He voice dripped with a condescending tone and Arthur's face burned with anger.

"My name is Martin Lepik, and these two are my associates Karl and Lance." He pointed offhand to the scarred man and the thin one, respectively.

"Hold on now." Cobb interrupted, and the man looked towards him, slightly startled at the interruption. Cobb crossed his arms, unimpressed. "I would appreciate if you would stop insulting my team, Mr. Lepik. I don't know what you want from us, but petty digs at Arthur won't get us any closer to the point."

Eames grinned wolfishly at Cobb's brash attempt to take control of the room while Martin gave Cobb a cutting glare. Clearing his throat, he chose to ignore the comment and continued on.

"I recently caught wind of a job extracting information from a former acquaintance. He and I used to work together doing decided illegal things. One day he decides he's too good for that, decides to clean up and get a _real_ job, he called it." Martin scoffed. "Well now his boss at his precious _real_ job wants to hire a team of extractors, thinks he's skimming some profits and depositing them into a foreign bank account."

"Oh, you mean it's an extraction job that three forgers can't do?" Arthur sarcastically cut in. Martin shot a nasty glare, but continued on.

"Lose the death-wish, darling." Eames whispered Arthur's way, frowning slightly.

"**Anyway**, there was a problem, this job is so dear to my heart, but they weren't going to trust me with it! They wanted someone with more _experience_. I asked them how they felt about it now that I had _the infamous _Cobb working for me. They practically tripped over themselves to hire me." He grinned to himself as he recalled his moment of glory. He looked over at Cobb, eyes bright and smiling. "We're going to make a great team, you and I."

"So you're proposing you and I work together for one job, then we part ways?" Cobb clarified, leaning forward.

"I don't understand why you're under the impression that I am proposing anything, Mr. Cobb." Martin pulled out his own gun and jammed it roughly between Arthur's eyes, pushing his head back. "That is, unless I've underestimated the value of your team to you?" He questioned, awaiting an answer.

"Put the gun away." Cobb ordered coolly, but Martin let it linger, forcing Arthur's head back father.

"Stop _telling_ me what to **do**." Martin slowly enunciated, glaring daggers. "Stop pretending you're in charge here, you do what I say, when I say it!" Arthur snuck a concerned look out of the corner of his eye towards Cobb, neck beginning to get stiff.

"Ok, alright, we're on board, just calm down." Cobb leaned forward in his chair, calm penetrating stare re-capturing Martin's attention. Hesitantly, he gave one last glare and yanked the gun away, allowing Arthur to straighten up.

"I'm done with this tonight." He said dismissively, motioning with the gun for Arthur to stand up. "I'll let you all sleep on it; we start bright and early tomorrow." Arthur stood up too slowly for Martin's liking, who jerked up him by the arm, sticking the gun into his back to warn him to stay still. Cobb and Eames slowly rose as well, warily trying to figure out where they would be going.

They had performed the attempted extraction in an expensive hotel with the help of a bribed room-key, yet one of the goons was now on the phone, dialling a number from memory and only uttering the words _we're ready_ before hanging up. They all stood around unsure for a few more moments before Martin deemed it was now time to move, and nodded at Karl and Lance who began to lead the way.

"I don't have to remind you all that you should refrain from trying anything." Martin murmured slowly as they passed several people on their way into the elevator. Arthur's mind raced, turning over every possible escape route as the elevator slowly descended, trying to think what he could do. Far too quickly the doors opened with a _ding_, and they were ushered quickly past unknowing gusts into the cold air outside.

A black limo was waiting at the curb, and the door popped open. Lowering himself into the seat, Cobb looked behind him and felt his stomach drop with how this was all progressing.

"Listen," He said, pausing with one leg in. "You have me in here already, I'll work for you. Just let them go, you don't need them anymore." He offered, hoping Martin would go for it.

"Get in there." Martin growled, and Cobb sighed, sliding over. Next came Eames and the two goons, and finally Arthur was shoved in. Martin sat by the only door, and the limo lurched into motion.

"Put these on." Martin barked out, tossing each of them a black cloth. Knowing the drill, Arthur Cobb and Eames began to secure their blindfolds, each of their minds working a mile a minute to plan a way to get themselves safely out of this.

The limo made enough turns that Arthur quickly gave up keeping track, it was clear they were purposefully throwing anyone off who was trying to keep track. Finally the limo slowly rolled to a stop, and Martin tugged the disoriented Arthur out. The other two could be heard to follow suit, and they entered an unknown building, tugged roughly down a long rickety flight of steps.

Arthur could hear who he assumed to be Eames stumbling and swearing every other step and even though he was considered the most well-coordinated of the bunch, he too almost lost his footing on several occasions.

Finally the dreaded stairs came to an end and with a rough push from behind, Arthur found himself on a dirty concrete floor. Eames then got shoved on top of him, knocking the wind out of him. Rolling out from under, he ripped his blindfold off just in time to see a heavy re-inforced door slamming shut. Another door could be heard opening and slamming a little ways off and Eames sat up, looking around.

"I guess they're keeping us separate from Cobb then, eh?" He guessed aloud.

"It'll make a co-ordinated escape that much more difficult." Arthur replied, scanning the room they were in. It was in a basement of some sort, not a window to be found. A small rickety door to the side led to a disgusting bare bones bathroom, and a single twin cot with a lumpy mattress sat in the corner.

"Looks like they've had company here before." Arthur sighed, leaning back against the stone wall. Eames was up jiggling at the door, trying to gauge its sturdiness. He quickly gave up and slumped against the wall next to Arthur, his large frame invading his personal space.

"I used to really really really badly want to become part of you and Cobb's team, you know." Eames laughed, looking down at the younger man.

"Oh yeah? And how are you finding it so far?" Arthur looked up at him, cracking a small smile.

"I think I might be due for a raise." He replied. "Or maybe some danger pay."

"Well I'm glad you've joined us." Arthur softly replied, looking down.

Eames smiled to himself...and even though he was in some basement dungeon with any number of untold dangers coming his way, he wouldn't have left Arthur and Cobb for the world.

A/N: Ok, sorry for the long update, I just got stuck again. I need to watch the movie again, I feel like I'm forgetting how the characters all interact, etc!


End file.
